by Jozef Micka 1957 national edition of checzoslovak arts
Table of contents:
Signs & expressions used
Preface
I. Bow Technique
1. Function of the right arm
The eighteen parts of the arm – The natural position of the arm – The basic position of the bow – The function of the thumb, of the middle finger, of the ring finger, of the index and the pinkie – the bow as a lever – the function of the wrist – the function of the forearm – the function of the arm.
2. Bow holding and the action of the right arm in slow strokes on the same string
Functions of the bow – Holding the bow – Placing the bow – Short bow strokes in the middle of the bow – at the heel – at the tip – Bow strokes using the whole bow – The weight of the bow – Guiding the bow parallel to the bridge – Bow canting – Inclining the fingers towards the bow stick – Tension changes in the hand – Practicing the whole bow stroke with changes in hold – One minute bow strokes – Slow fortissimos.
3. Mobility and synchronization of the right arm
Collaboration of all parts of the right arm – Relaxation of muscle tension through dynamics – Speed of movement – Finger, wrist, and forearm mobility exercises – Playing by jumping between strings – Bow rebound ability – Rotational movement – Arm mobility exercises.
4. Changing the Arch Changes at the Heel
The influence of arch weight – Relaxing the bow stroke and lightening the arch before the heel stroke – Influence of bow stroke speed and gravity on bow changes – Playing with the elbow close to the body – Playing with the elbow high – Playing with the elbow at intermediate height – Learning protocol for heel stroke changes.
5. String Changes
Legato string changes between adjacent strings – Legato string changes between multiple strings – The seven string levels – Shortening or lengthening bow strokes when playing between strings – Legato changes between one pair of strings and another – Bow pressure when playing double strings – Chords – Trunk movement when playing chords – Détaché changes on two strings – Sensation of synchronized movement of all parts of the right arm – Détaché string changes on multiple strings – Détaché changes from one pair of strings to another.
6. Dynamics (Technique)
Execution of dynamics – Crescendo (Tartini bow stroke) – Decrescendo – Bow vibration – Dynamic wave – Bow shifts between the bridge and fingerboard – Sharp and soft accents – Alternating loud and soft tones.
7. Staccato
Martelé – Grand martelé – A series of staccatos from the fingers – from the wrist – from the elbow – moving down the bow – Viotti’s bow stroke.
8. Saltato (jumped bow strokes)
Long spiccato – bounce – combination – Bow rebound ability – Spiccato exercises – Flying staccato – Sautillé – Ricochet – Arpeggio-ricochet.
II. Left hand technique
9. Violin Holding and Body Position
Normal violin playing position and deviations – The chin rest – The shoulder rest – Holding the violin with the head and shoulder – The music rest – Body posture – Normative left hand position – Hand position in high positions – The fingers – The Geminiani position.
10. Tuning
Musical Ear – Sensitivity and Stability of the Ear – Organs of the Ear – Physical Exposure to Tuning – Tempered Tuning – Frequency Relationships – Tartini Tones and Cumulative Tones – Tuning from a Psychological Point of View – Harmonic Substrate of Tuning – Sensing the Tendency of Tones – Tuning Scales – Semitones in High Positions – Four Possibilities for Comparing Tuning – Stability of Tuning – Beginner Tuning – Technical Tuning Aids – Natural Tuning – Tuning Control Using Free Strings – Tuning with Tendency – Tempered Tuning – Chromatic Sequences – Diminished Chords – Augmented Fourths
11. Finger Tapping
The 4 Phases of Finger Tapping – Daily Finger Training – Ševčik’s Op. 7 – Special Finger Tapping Exercises – Fingertip Sensitivity
12. Trills
Warm-up before trills – Finger lift pitch – Finger pressure – Trill setup – Tempestive trill – Vibrato trill – Maintaining a good trill.
13. Finger retention on the strings and anticipation of fingerings
Three reasons for keeping your fingers on the strings – The habit of keeping your fingers on the strings – Anticipating fingerings on the same string – on different strings – when changing positions – Inconvenient anticipation when vibrating – Inconvenient anticipation when vibrating – “Adjusted” anticipation
14. Playing in positions and position changes
The meaning of playing in first position – The order of positions – Instructions for playing in a new position – 4 types of position changes – Thumb movements – Finger pressure – Slow and fast glissandos – Pushed changes – Displaced changes played technically or expressively – Substitution changes – Pushed direct changes – Displaced direct changes – Substitution direct changes – Jumping position changes – Position changes with detaché bows – Position change exercises.
15. Scales and chords unfolded (arpeggios)
Single octave unfolded scales and chords (elementary) – Unfolded scales and chords on the same string – Two-octave unfolded scales and chords – Position scales and two-octave unfolded chords – Simple three-octave scales and unfolded chords – Fingering chart for three-octave unfolded scales and chords – Study form chart – Chromatic scale in 1st position – in other positions – on a single string – Chromatic glissando – Octave scales and their arpeggios – Fingered octaves – Thirds scales – Sixths scales – Fourths scales – Tenths scales – Harmonics – Harmonic scales – Summary of artificial harmonic fingerings – Flesch scale system
16. Vibrato
Three types of vibrato – Unloaded index finger – Combined vibrato (training) – Beginner vibrato – Too free vibrato – Too tense – Too fast – With the whole forearm – Temperament and vibrato – Habit of always vibrating.
III. Expressive elements of playing
17. Musical ideas (disconnection of musical ideas from movement technique)
Separation of technique and expressiveness – Conscious way of emphasizing the manner of playing – First the ideas, then the sound – Structures of musical ideas and their changes – Emotional reflection of musical life – Dependence of interpretive expressiveness on the general emotional life – Artistic manner of playing and craftsmanship – Exemplification of psychic and technical events in playing – 5 layers of musical current: reading, musical ideas, emotions, ideas about technique and technique – Mutual interrelations of the five layers of musical current – balance between technique and expression – The composer’s function of the violinist – Playing in the imagination – Instructions for studying from the imagination.
18. Melody and other tone sequences. Phrasing
Expression of a succession of tones – Singing as an aid to expressiveness – The different character options of a succession of tones – Analogy between music and oral expression – Division of successions of tones – Detail of the divisions – When we do not phrase – Orders for phrasing – Forms of phrasing – Working on a musical phrase (examples) – Phrasing and bows – Phrasing of Bach’s works – Praxis of phrasing – Playing the song.
19. Harmony
Correlation of expression and emotions – Bass – Intelligibility of harmony – Tonality – Alterations – Modulations – Character of tones/tonalities – Highlighting the execution by feeling the harmony – The execution of the accompanying piano – Homework to intensify the harmonic feeling.
20. Rhythm
Rhythm and tempo are also manifested dynamically – Tapping the tempo with the foot – Playing with a regular tempo – Speeding up and relaxing the tempo – Choosing the tempo with consideration for technique or expressiveness – Education of rhythmic feeling – Metronome – Disagreement between pitch and rhythm – The influence of rhythm exercises – Tables of demonstrative rhythm exercises and instructions on how to use them – Linking the bisillo with the trill.
21. Dynamic (expressive)
Correlation of dynamics with the feeling and character of the performer – Dynamics as a criterion of musicality – Dynamics in phrasing – Dynamics and focus of attention – Function of dynamics in identical music – Feeling the dynamics – Classification of dynamics – Crescendo and decrescendo – Types of accents – Dynamics by level – Body movement during changes in dynamics.
22. Coloratura of sound
Oboe timbre – Flautato – Sur ponticello – Pizzicato – Pizzicato with the left hand – Pizzicato trills – Col legno.
IV. Didactics and Annexes
23. Study of pieces to be performed publicly with the instrument
Repetition and mechanization – The effort to improve – Exercise with change of trends – Learning protocol – Tuning training – Technical elaboration – The rhythm of the piece – Formation of the phrases one by one – Expressiveness of all the elements – Maintenance of the studied pieces – Ševčik’s step by step for the study of pieces – Written analysis of the difficulties.
24. Art education
Education for aesthetic feeling – Joint evolution of technique and expressiveness – Acceleration of technical development – Playing with style – Instigation to study – Characteristics of a good teacher – Education of preschool children – Education of school-age children – Education of young people in adolescence – Musical fantasy/imagination – Individuality – Types of violinists: reflective and intellectual – Equality of types – Education for individuality – Records and recordings – The artist of our times – Formalism.
25. Style
Pieces from the Classical Period – Classical Rhythm – The Dynamics of Classical Pieces – Saltato in Baroque Pieces – Rococo Pieces – Beethoven – Pieces from the Romantics – Neo-Romanticism – Impressionism – Modern Music – Contemporary Music – Chamber Style – Concertante Style – Individual Characteristics of Composers – Pieces from Various Nations.
26. Flexibility of execution (relaxation when playing)
Relaxed psyche and tense psyche – Control centers of the musical psyche – Function of control centers – Education for relaxation and concentration – Alternating the focus of attention – Muscle relaxation.
27. Organization of daily study
Daily study – Studio layout – Multi-part work – Sitting down to play – Desire to play – Work planning.
28. Musical memory
Main types of memory: auditory, emotional, visual, kinesthetic (movement) – Awareness of movements – Memorization through repetition – Jost’s Law – Memorization without a violin – Alternating focus of attention – Organization of memory reproduction – Logical memory – Reliance on memory training.
29. Stage fright
Manifestations in the psychological sphere – in the physical sphere – Causes of stage fright – The effort complex – The apprehension complex – Multidirectional relaxation tendencies – Nerves – Conditioned reflexes – Two types of stage fright – Subjective evaluation – Distancing from one’s own “I” – Alcohol (drugs) – Immediate criticism of performance – Playing only for oneself – Relaxed mind – Positive relationship with the upcoming public performance – Inner “superiority” – Concentration – Good preparation – Self-confidence – Isolated cases of nerves – Overcoming difficulty through irony – Emphasizing quality – Autosuggestion – Public performance without preparation – Sociability – Summary of anti-nervous resources.
30. Violin and bow setup (adjustments) for playing
The bridge – The nut – The strings – The shoulder pad – The pegs – Tuning – The chin rest – The fingerboard – Cleaning the violin – Sizing the violin – The humidifier – The bow – Rosining – Bow alignment – Violin mute.
31. Tartini’s Writing
Weak bow placement and tone development – Playing Corelli fugues (studies) – Exercises for skipping strings – Exercises for playing in position in II-V position – Exercises for the “running” trill – Comments on the writing.
32. Research into violin playing endowment
The degree of giftedness of the parents – Existing life – State of health, state of the nervous system – Test of calmness with the hand – Interest in music – Manual skills – Notion of pitch – of harmony – of rhythm – of dynamics and quality of sound – of memory – of the connection between notion and movement – of the connection between ideas and musical signs – of the correlation of emotions with musical feeling – Reliability of the tests for musical giftedness raised.
33. Step-by-step method for elementary education (in first position)
Introduction for the teacher: studying in class time – 2 hours per week – Supervision – Studying sitting down – Playing from memory – Ideas first, then playing – Order of study – Marks and use of a methodical process – Notation of fingerings – Order of elementary teaching – Playing only on free strings – Pizzicato – Arco – Second fingering with flats – Third fingering with bar – Fourth fingering with the fourth finger lowered – Fifth fingering with the third finger raised – Sixth fingering with the third finger lowered – Half position – Raised first position – Double strings – playing strings through – Trill preparation – Chromatic.